HISTORICAL RESI:ARCH — JAMESON. I93 



Miscellaneous Duties. 



In its capacity of clearing-house for the historical profession, the Depart- 

 ment must endeavor to accumulate and keep on file in a convenient manner 

 all possible information respecting manuscript materials for American his- 

 tory, especially those which are scattered or difficult of access, and to do what 

 it can to facilitate use of these by scholars. It must also mediate between 

 historical scholars, the country over, and the archives of Washington, by 

 making searches of limited extent for them, indicating available materials, 

 answering questions, and making arrangements with copyists. It should aid 

 with particular zeal the efforts of societies and State departments of archives 

 and history. The editing of the American Historical Review, the organ of 

 the profession, is, inevitably, closely associated with its work. 



WORK OF THE PAST YEAR. 



I can not easily express my deep sense of obligation to my predecessor, 

 Professor McLaughlin, for the condition of advancement and of order in 

 which he turned over to me, on October i, 1905, the affairs of the depart- 

 ment. I am sure that all who work in the department and all to whom its 

 work is of service will continue to be grateful to him for the admirable 

 intelligence and skill with which he organized and for two years carried on 

 that work. 



Reports, Aids, and Guides. 



Messrs. Van Tyne and Iceland's Guide to the Archives of the Government 

 of the United States in Washington having come to be practically out of 

 print, a second edition is in preparation, and should be in press by January. 

 While the form of the Guide will not be changed, such corrections will be 

 introduced as have been made necessary by the receipt of additional infor- 

 mation or by occasional shiftings of archive-material from one place of 

 deposit to another. In many places the text will be considerably amplified. 

 A very full report has been prepared on the important body of material in 

 the Bureau of Indexes and Archives of the Department of State, the records 

 of territories in that Department and elsewhere have received particular 

 attention, and the account of the records of the Post Office Department has 

 been very much amplified. While this revised edition can in no way be made 

 a definitive one, it will be considerably larger and more informing than that 

 of 1904. 



Mr. McLaughlin's Report on the Diplomatic Archives of the Department 

 of State, 1 789- 1840, also out of print, has been reissued with only a few 

 slight alterations. 



To meet and to stimulate increased interest in the religious history of 

 America, an interest felt not only by workers in church history but by the 



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